Edward Irham Cole (3 December 1859 – 1 July 1942) was an Australian theatrical entrepreneur and film director whose productions represented a synthesis of Wild West show and stage melodrama (often with a bushranger theme). He managed a theatre company, called the Bohemian Dramatic Company, that performed in semi-permanent and temporary tent theatres.[1] During 1910 and 1911 Cole directed a number of silent films, adapted from his stage plays and using actors from his theatre company.
Biography
Cole arrived in Australia as a young man and worked for a time in Adelaide before moving to Wilcannia.[2]
He started in showbusiness as a lecturer, calling himself "the Bohemian" and giving presentations on various topics.[3][4][5][6]
He later joined the company of Texas Jack, an American showman in the Buffalo Bill mould. He established the Bohemian Dramatic Company, which toured the country performing shows. At its height, the company included over 60 performers and 20 horses, and was transported in its own train.
In 1910 and 1911 Cole made a series of films adapted from his shows, which cost over £1,000 in all. The longest was reportedly 1,5000 feet.[7] They were sometimes screened accompanied by lectures and songs.[8][9] Cole toured Tasmania in 1911 and 1912.
By 1926 the company was down to a size of 24 and touring mostly only country areas.[10]
Later years
Cole's company was still touring in the 1930s as 'Cole's Varieties', run by his son-in-law, Bill Ayr.[11]
Cole and his wife ran a small factory at Marrickville in Sydney which manufactured cowboy outfits for small children.[12]
In the 1930s Cole began making waxworks. In the 1940s he was involved in a saddlery business at Blacktown.[13]
Personal life
Cole married his leading lady, Vene Linden (real name Lavinia Catherine) (1877 - 1948). They had several children: Frank, Roy, Mabel, Belle, Rose and Myrtle.
Roy predeceased them. Mabel married Cole's leading man, Bill Ayr. They had three children, Ned, Tom and Millie.[14]
In later years, Millie and Ned Ayr would be actors for the company while Tom Ayr handled most of the managerial duties of Cole's Varieties.[15][16][17]
In 1931, Cole's wife engaged in a court case against her sister for ownership of their father's cottage.[18][19][20]
Cole died on 1 July 1942.[21] His wife died on 8 November 1948, aged 71, survived by their children Frank, Belle, Mabel, Rose and Myrtle; a son, Roy, had predeceased her.[22]
^Andrew James Couzens (2019), A Cultural History of the Bushranger Legend in Theatres and Cinemas, 1828-2017, London: Anthem Press (ISBN1-78-308892-3); Chapter 4: 'Hippodramas and Edward Irham Cole', pages 67-85.
^He married in south Australia Ada Dale the mother of all his children (5/4/1884)
Children: Mable Ada, Ethel May, Isabella Maude, Frank Watteau, Ada Dorothy, Rose Juanita, Myrtle Celia Irham, she died due to childbirth 5/8/1895. Roy must have been to his 2nd wife?
My grandfather was one of his Actors, John Reid (Lollie) Wilson he married Ethel May Cole.
^"Advertising". The Bendigo Independent. No. 13, 134. Victoria, Australia. 17 February 1913. p. 1. Retrieved 17 July 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
^"At 82, he tired of bushrangers". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. VII, no. 14. New South Wales, Australia. 17 February 1946. p. 54. Retrieved 3 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
^"DAYS OF DRAMA IN PIRIE". Recorder. No. 12, 249. South Australia. 14 July 1938. p. 4. Retrieved 9 March 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
